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The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees will be renamed the Empire State Yankees during the 2012 season as the team heads on the road during the planned $40 million PNC Field renovation project this summer.

Renaming the Triple-A baseball team was a decision in which Lackawanna County officials say they were not consulted.

Lackawanna County Commissioner Jim Wansacz downplayed the move, but also revealed that when the team is expected to return in 2013, it might do so with a new name anyway.

The bulk of the team's "home" games in 2012 will be played in upstate New York venues in Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo and Batavia, and those who organized the name change say they pushed for it to foster a relationship between their hometown fans and the team that has been one of their teams' chief rivals over the past five seasons.

The name change was announced by team officials from the Rochester Red Wings and Syracuse Chiefs during a news conference Wednesday in Rochester. Calling the team the Empire State Yankees, they hope, will be a boon to ticket and merchandise sales.

But the name could violate the team's contract, said James Timlin, chairman of the Lackawanna County Multi-Purpose Stadium Authority, which owns the franchise.

"You could take them to Nebraska. They're still the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees," he said.

"I wish they had contacted us first," he added. He said it was brought to his attention through an email at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday. "As far as I'm concerned, it's not in their contract that they could change the name of the team while it's still under the ownership of the Lackawanna County authority board."

The stadium authority contracts SWB Yankees LLC - which is co-owned by Mandalay Baseball Properties and the New York Yankees - to manage the team, though the county is in negotiations to sell it to them.

Mandalay CEO Art Matin said he hadn't had a chance to discuss the decision with Timlin or other members of the stadium authority, which he conceded "might have been an oversight" on his part. He insists the name change is merely a temporary change to boost ticket sales and fan affinity in upstate New York.

"It's not a change of the official name," Matin said. "To us the team is the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees."

Although Wansacz only heard of the change today, he is not concerned about what he called a strategy to "drum up marketing" for the team's year in unfamiliar stadiums.

"These teams are accommodating us," Wansacz said. "They don't have to let anybody play on their field."

He added the team could receive a permanent name change as soon as next season, following negotiations with Mandalay.

"The name is probably going to be changing anyway in 2013," Wansacz said. "It will be up to the community and what they want going forward."

Pressed further, he wouldn't say whether the Yankees nickname would stick, but said, "I doubt it will be Scranton/Wilkes-Barre."

He declined to explain the name change further because it is part of ongoing negotiations with SWB Yankees.

"If we have baseball in 2013, our main focus is trying to get a stadium built and have baseball here," he said. "That's the most important part of it."

The "if" has become a larger concern as construction milestones for the major renovation of PNC Field fast approach and negotiations of the sale of the Triple-A baseball franchise linger.

Early construction activities are to begin by March 20, with demolition to start by April 1 under a schedule from Lackawanna County's architect for the project, Philadelphia-based Ewing Cole. County officials have said the only deadline that matters is April 3, 2013, when the International League will open its 2013 season.

Matin said he is aware that a fan base already skeptical about how private ownership affects the future of professional baseball in Northeastern Pennsylvania might take the name change as a sign the franchise is slipping through their fingers. He repeated that the change was "very temporary," and local baseball fans should accept it as such.

Matin pointed out that the franchise's official headquarters still is on Montage Mountain.

Yankees officials, in New York and at the local level, worked with officials in Rochester in cooperation on the name change. They have also changed the logo, swapping "Scranton/Wilkes-Barre" with "Empire State." While the caps the Yankees will wear on the field will be different this season, uniforms won't be. That includes the road gray uniforms, which sport the words "Scranton/Wilkes-Barre."

Chris Sprague, assistant to International League president Randy Mobley, said late Wednesday afternoon the league also considers the name change "unofficial."

Mike Vander Woude, the local Yankees' director of media relations and broadcasting and radio play-by-play announcer, said he has no plans to refer to the team as the "Empire State Yankees" during his broadcasts.

dcollins@timesshamrock.com

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